West Seattle, Washington
17 Tuesday
Great photo of West Seattleite Val Mallinson and her “Victory Bike” on the P-I site. Val had kindly flagged us, so to speak, of her impending ride, but we got stuck elsewhere; glad to be able to share this shot, though!
More numbers out from the King County Elections Department — updated this afternoon. They promise updated numbers late tonight, two updates tomorrow afternoon and late-night, and then daily updates for as long as needed until final results are certified just before Thanksgiving. Statewide, two races remain too close to call: For lands commissioner, Democrat Peter Goldmark is slightly ahead of incumbent Doug Sutherland, and challenger Randy Dorn is slightly ahead of state school superintendent Terry Bergeson (find results for those races here). Meantime, three more local leaders have answered our request on their thoughts on last night’s election and what’s next, including West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen with what’s next for city parks after Prop 2 passed (he chairs the Parks Committee), County Councilmember Dow Constantine with what’s next for mass transit after the Sound Transit measure passed (he chairs the Transportation Committee), and State Rep. Sharon Nelson on what it’s like to be elected for the first time (her first election after being appointed to the State House exactly a year ago) — you don’t often hear elected officials using words like “elated” and “thrilling”:Read More
Steps over the city/county line, at this morning’s grand opening of the new Greenbridge YWCA Learning Center and county library branch (map), County Executive Ron Sims made that simple and heartfelt comment about President-Elect Obama‘s election. (To see the kids he’s referring to, check out our expanded coverage of the event on White Center Now.) Meantime, for everybody looking for a tangible souvenir of history, you might just have to print this out:
We photographed CNN on the bigscreen at Skylark Club and Cafe (WSB sponsor) during last night’s election-party coverage; today, if you’re looking for a newspaper front page to save, you might have trouble, as Kathleen from Highland Park e-mailed:
I don’t know if this will get coverage anywhere but I find the run on print papers today to be fascinating! I got the last Seattle Times and P-I at the Westwood QFC and searched in vain for a copy of the NYTimes. I visited 10 different stores around Highland Park and called many more around West Seattle and White Center. There is no NYT to be found! And again, the P-I and Times are gone in most places too! I guess I’m not the only one to want to memorialize this glorious day. You better believe I’ll be at the stores sooner for the Inauguration issues!
Looks like the Weekly‘s blog had a blurb about this too.
So many layers to the election, we will be bringing you followups for days, if not weeks, to come, but today we are checking in with some of your elected leaders and others with unique perspectives. For starters: All three 34th District state legislators, all Democrats, were on the ballot last night, but without opposition, there was no suspense to the results. Nonetheless, win they did: Rep. Eileen Cody, Rep. Sharon Nelson (appointed, and sworn in one year ago today, after Joe McDermott moved up to the State Senate a year ago following the resignation of Erik Poulsen), and Sen. McDermott (photo left), who writes in response to our request for reaction (and a bit about his future focus):
I am elated with the Electoral College success President-elect Obama achieved last night. I think it speaks to the hope and optimism we the people have. Here in West Seattle, Kimber McCreery and David Ginsberg lead a long list of people to whom thanks is due for their hard work on the campaign over many months!
Having worked with Governor Gregoire over the past 4 years as Governor, and previously as Attorney General, I find her leadership to be amazing and am pleased she has been re-elected. As I begin my new term in the State Senate, I plan on working with her on education and economic issues. In these times, we need to be sure that places like South Seattle Community College are well equipped to help people gain new skills in our economy and be successful in finding fulfilling employment.
I will also continue my work on Voter Registration. I believe we should encourage citizens to vote and our current deadlines for voter registration to not fulfill this value.
I thank West Seattle and the 34th District for the opportunity to serve you in the Washington State Senate over the next two years.
Speaking of SSCC, that’s where Sen. McDermott will lead the second part of a two-part class focusing on this year’s election, discussing and analyzing how it all shook out — 6:30 pm next Monday.
Postscript this morning from Lora Lewis at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor), re: those “election special” drinks: “We did sell the ‘Obama for Change’ more than any other election special yesterday, maybe an indicator of yesterday’s outcome?? Of our customer ‘electoral votes’: Obama 27, McCain 0, Biden 7, Palin 1.” ADDED 9:25 AM: From the daily bulletin at Chief Sealth HS – the student body’s mock election also had the same results as the official voting, with Sen. Obama, Gov. Gregoire, and Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott getting the most votes.
(scroll down for latest updates on state/local vote notes)
That’s what it was like inside Skylark two hours ago a few minutes after Sen. Obama was declared President-Elect Obama (the bigscreen TV had switched from Jon Stewart to CNN by then). Half an hour later, as we drove back to WSB HQ, we saw more signs of revelry: Along Delridge, a woman and kids, jumping up and down and shouting at passing cars. Not far from where we caught one last voter scooting in with seconds to go till the doors closed on a tremendously busy Election Day at Delridge Community Center (more than 1200 ballots, we were told):
STATE/LOCAL RESULTS LINKS:
Governor and other major statewide offices
Seattle Pike Place Market and Parks levies
Sound Transit Prop 1
Statewide ballot initiatives (985, 1000, 1029)
Local legislators (all unopposed)
King County charter amendments
10:15 PM UPDATE: CNN is projecting Gov. Gregoire will win re-election; currently leading in the vote count, 52%-48%. Initiative 985 losing, 1000 and 1029 winning. Seattle levies both passing. Outside Seattle but notable – Darcy Burner well ahead in rematch with U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (results here).
10:50 PM UPDATE: New ballot totals released by King County in past half-hour still show the parks and Pike Place levies passing handily (both needed only simple majorities). All county charter amendments except 1 are passing – looks like more county leaders will have to run as nonpartisan candidates in the future. In notes from elsewhere, the California same-sex-marriage ban is leading; Minnesota Senate race is almost a tie – less than 200 votes between challenger Al Franken (former Saturday Night Live cast member) and the Republican incumbent he ran against.
Big raucous crowd here at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor). The place is packed, and it’s almost as loud as if you were at a candidate rally. CNN is on the big screen, and every time they project a state for one candidate or another, loud reaction — pretty much, cheers for Obama, boos for McCain. CNN just called Ohio for Obama and a prolonged ovation has broken out. It’s close to standing-room-only in here. 7 PM UPDATE: The big screen’s gone over to Jon Stewart. 7:10 PM: It’s officially SRO here – people are standing against the front wall, by the door. 7:27 PM: More cool West Seattle pix from today at the Incremental Updates blog. 7:45 PM UPDATE: Oh thank heavens, we’re back to CNN. As amusing as Jon Stewart is, it doesn’t seem right for our memory of a potentially historic moment is for him to be calling the presidential race. (Spoke too soon, minutes later, he’s baack!) 7:49 PM UPDATE: Well, maybe not so bad; an interviewee just said “There are two skinny guys from Illinois who made a difference – Abraham Lincoln, and Barack Obama.” 8:03 PM UPDATE: Jon Stewart and company just announced CNN projects Sen. Obama is now President-Elect Obama. The place erupts. Prolonged ovation. Got it on video, will add when we get back to home base. OK, maybe it was better to watch Jon Stewart tell the story. Now, on to the state and local results — for the rest of the night there’s a lot to watch, including the governor’s race and ballot measures such as Sound Transit Prop 1, Seattle’s Pike Place Market (Prop 1) and Parks (Prop 2) levies, and statewide initiatives. All King County results will be available here once the first counts come in (usually 8:15-ish); statewide results (statewide offices such as governor, plus I-1000, I-985, I-1029) will be here.
We are back from our stroll up the hill to vote in person, apparently one last time, at Peace Lutheran Church. 300 people already had voted there by the time we left, and the supervisor smiled that it was a “really strong turnout,” as she gave us our stickers – yes, the “Farewell to Polls” part made me cry. Here’s our photo of the polling-place door, for posterity’s sake (and by the way, there’s a little bake sale in the Peace Lutheran hallway too, so if that’s your polling place, bring $, we forgot to):
King County Elections‘ latest media update includes the reminder that if you are in line at 8 pm, your polling place will NOT close till you have voted – so don’t worry that you might miss out. Meantime, we made it back to High Point Community Center to speak with poll worker Joan O’Brien, who e-mailed an invite earlier today to drop by. So what’s it like being a poll worker (apparently) one last time?
Now, the vote-counting: As for how we’re going to let you know what’s happening in the actual vote-counting: We will keep moving the national-results widget up to whatever is the top post on the page (unless we have to interrupt with non-election news, which of course you can count on us to do IF something major happens). Then when we are close to 8 pm, we will add links to the local and state results, to be included as we chronicle Election Night. As for where we will be procuring photos and video, we’re still planning to be at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) for the early going, 5ish through 8ish, and then moving on to some other spots including a visit to the White Center party at Big Al Brewing (remember, it’s a potluck). If you’re at another venue that turns out to have a big election-viewing party rolling later, either planned or unplanned, e-mail us – we’re remaining flexible enough to go where the news, and the people, are. (NOTE: The national-results widget that was previously here is now beneath the newest post atopthe page.)
Thanks to Leighellen for sharing that photo of a car parked on 49th “near the Schmitz Park voting center.” We’ve also heard from Brian Judd at High Point Community Center, saying things are fairly quiet right now, if you still need to vote and have the opportunity to get it done sometime soon. Here’s a pic he sent:
(4:19 PM NOTE: The national-results widget that previously was here is now beneath the newest post, and will keep floating up that way throughout Election Night.)
Thanks to RLV for sending that pic of the Alki Elementary PTA Election Day bake sale outside Alki Community Center – we haven’t made it over there just yet. (There’s another Alki pic on the county blog.) Seems voting can rustle up quite an appetite; Morgan Junction Starbucks told us they’d had a run on pastries to go with the free drip coffee. We’ll add Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) soup lunch/bake sale pix here after we’re back from there. (Any other Election Day treats to share?) Side note: If you want to see what’s up in other Puget Sound ‘hoods, here are some links from some of our fellow neighborhood-news sites: Ballard voting lines, via MyBallard.com; Capitol Hill notes from CapitolHillSeattle.com; Central District voting lines via CentralDistrictNews.com; Tacoma open thread at Exit133.com. Also interesting to check: The Twitter stream of King County Elections – it’s NOT official, it’s little bits and blurbs from various polling places – follow kcvotes on Twitter or just browse it on the Web at twitter.com/kcvotes.
ADDED 1:57 PM: Here are those promised pix from Fauntleroy Church — first, the bake sale (you can’t have the pumpkin bread at lower right, we bought it, yum):
Here’s the crew that was serving soup during the lunch hour:
Some of the crafts on sale during the bazaar (even if you don’t vote at Fauntleroy, it’s worth a stop, there’s a LOT of stuff on sale):
And pardon us for getting misty all day long, because we just can’t believe we’ll never see signs like this again:
Next stop – We’re going back to our polling place, to REALLY get misty-eyed as we do the in-person voting thing one last time (we were there earlier but just to get pix/video of the first voters in line), plus we’re heading over to High Point – though we’ve just gotten some advance pix (thanks! keep sending yours, all day and all night, we’ll be frequently updating till at least oh 2 am or so, and we’ll add results info/links once the polls start closing) …
That’s one minute of video, three corners of Fauntleroy/California (sorry about the passing trucks), as fourth and fifth graders from Gatewood Elementary School‘s “Team Earth Peeps” spent some time in the past hour waving signs to get out the vote. Go, kids, go! (Thanks to Gatewood teacher Darren Radu for letting us know!) (Added later) Here are a couple pix, too:
Earlier, WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli roamed The Junction and sends these pix:
That’s Cupcake Royale in The Junction, giving away free “babycakes” in honor of Election Day. Next, voting at the Senior Center, where Christopher reports workers told him the “polling place has been very busy today. Much more volume than usual. That was reflected by the crowd when I was there around 8:30.”
More to come – we’ll be heading out to more spots including Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor), where the traditional Election Day Fall Bazaar promises baked goods, crafts, and a “soup lunch.”
Foreground at right, that’s Fauntleroy resident Chris Porter, who was an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention (here’s his first-person report published on WSB afterward) – we found him with other signwavers on the Fauntleroy overpass about half an hour ago. All Democrats, except for two Lakeside School students who came with a get-out-the-vote sign; we talked to them on video – (added later) here’s the clip (tough to do a coherent interview over a near-freeway):
And here’s a video clip of Chris and company – most notable for the sound of traffic, and honking, going by:
By the way, the view looking east from the overpass:
And on the way to the overpass (added later), just one lone signwaver at 35th/Fauntleroy – but our video view, as we pass, shows a couple other campaign sights:
A bit to the southeast, Neil sends this photo, with a note that there was no wait to vote at Delridge Community Center around 9:30:
And if anyone wants to harken back to the last time a Democratic candidate won a first term … we found this bumper sticker on a car in front of Salon 08 on the north edge of The Junction:
We’re just steps away from Salon 08 at the moment, posting from Hotwire Coffee, WSB’s inaugural advertiser as of one year ago tomorrow — proprietor Lora Lewis is here serving up the “Election Specials” we mentioned last night – have overheard three “Obama for Change” orders in 15 minutes, in fact.
That’s the result of our short chat with Mayor Nickels and wife Sharon Nickels just outside Admiral Church, where they arrived to vote at 7:30 – we asked him (a) his thoughts on the end of the in-person voting era in King County, and (b) if he had any predictions. If you somehow hadn’t heard this before, he reconfirmed he’ll be on the ballot in a year. Meantime, we’ve also heard from The Junction, where someone texted us that 20 people were in line at Tibbetts United Methodist Church by 7 am, and here’s what we got at our polling place, Peace Lutheran Church in Gatewood — we talked briefly with Charles Exe, who was first in line to vote:
Peace Lutheran had two chairs at the head of the line – Charles got one, and Sandy Essene, second in line, got the other:
Another West Seattle-related tidbit — as the TV and Web political pundits prattle on through the day, there’s online speculation that an Obama Administration might consider former Senator Tom Daschle as White House Chief of Staff; Sen. Daschle was here just last month at the big breakfast event for Delridge-based Southwest Youth and Family Services, which is run by 
his brother Steve Daschle. ADDED 8:39 AM: Distant shot at left of the helicopter you may have seen buzzing The Junction and Admiral. We saw it while at Admiral Church in the 7 am hour – definitely a news chopper, though I couldn’t tell whether it was 4 or 7 – likely covering voting, since nothing else newsworthy was up at that time. Thanks again to Cami for that shot and for this one of voters at Schmitz Park Elementary around 7:30 am:
We’re heading back out to see what else is up in the early going. Meantime, in addition to comments on our home-page reports like this one, there’s also Election ’08 chat going on in the ever-hoppin’ WSB Forums (with newly added features – chosen your avatar yet?).
That’s the lineup under the overhang outside Admiral Congregational Church, minutes before voting began at 7 am. In the foreground with a coffee cup, longtime Admiral community activist Dennis Ross, who said he’s going to miss the in-person voting experience (as are we) in future elections. We’re here because in a little while, it’ll be the traditional official Election Day photo-op of the mayor, who votes here (Channel 7 is doing its election-morning live shots from here as a result) . More pix of that, plus the pre-voting scene at the WSB team’s home precinct on the other end of West Seattle, in a bit. We know there were lines elsewhere – driving northbound on California, we saw one (lots of umbrellas in view; the rain hasn’t let up yet) outside the Senior Center in The Junction. (Remember, your pix are welcome throughout the day and evening, editor@westseattleblog.com, as we’ll be chronicling Election Day — and Night — as it happens.) ADDED 7:19 AM: Alki News Beacon editor Cami MacNamara sends this shot of the line that had already formed inside the Alki Community Center lobby by quarter till 7:
First: As Election Day begins, remember how Election Season began:
Scenes from the precinct caucuses, almost nine months ago, February 9 – this was the Democratic crowd at Arbor Heights Elementary (photographed that day by Tim):
And this WSB shot captured the lined-up Republican caucus crowd that day at Southwest Community Center:
Now – we will set out shortly to see if lines are greeting poll workers for their last major election (as devoted in-person voters, we will have to bring Kleenex when we go cast our votes). King County Votes is collecting photos and stories about in-person voting, too, so we will probably share ours.
Here are some info-links that may help as we begin Election Day:
If you vote in person: 7 am-8 pm. Where, you ask? Doublecheck here.
If you vote by mail but haven’t sent your ballot in yet, get it postmarked by 8 pm or drop it off at the nearest polling place (list here).
Still dithering over some hot races/issues? Background links on the WSB Election page, where we’ll also have results links tonight as spillover from the home page.
Not sure what to do with the “downticket” races like judges? The 34th District Democrats (WSB sponsor) have a full list of endorsements here; countywide Republicans, here; nonpartisan Muni League‘s list, here.
Election Night parties? Discussed in this WSB Forums thread.
Coverage here? All day and all night. And we’d love to have you be part of it. Send us pix, video links, leave comments, call with tips, whatever, so we can chronicle as much of West Seattle Election Day ’08 (and night) as possible.
Earlier, we showed you a nonpartisan exhortation to vote, and a Republican signwaving stronghold. Now, a couple signs from the D side — the one atop this post is from Jason in Fauntleroy; the next one is from Highland Park‘s Dina Johnson, who says this banner will be in her yard on Election Day next to a “big flag”:
Another sign of the times is the drink-special roster at Hotwire Coffee (which by the way became WSB’s first-ever sponsor as of exactly one year ago this Wednesday):
(Click to see the full-size flyer)
Hotwire is one of many places we expect to visit as we roam West Seattle tomorrow chronicling Election Day (and Night) ’08 — we’ll have one more round of voting-info links up in the early morning, then our coverage starts with the opening of polling places at 7 am — we’ll be at a couple places when the doors open, but we also would love to get pix from you, cameraphone or whatever, of your polling place or anything else election-related — editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
Coming back from downtown, we were a few cars back at the Fauntleroy/35th stoplight when those sign-wavers outside the strip mall caught our eye – and we managed to fish out the video camera in time to snag that short clip. What you don’t see are the Obama signwavers just offscreen to the left; light turned green, and the steer-with-left-hand, shoot-with-right-hand maneuver doesn’t work so well in the rain. Remember – send us your Election Day pix/clips, all day and night tomorrow – Election Eve stuff welcome tonight too, we’ll post more later. (Election side note – we have mentioned a couple of these here already, but the fabulous Monica @ the P-I’s Big Blog has compiled the “7 Election Day Freebies” list.) ADDED 6:40 PM: Went back to 35th/Fauntleroy so we could get out of the car for a better shot (and audio, given all the hooting and hollering of the Obama signwavers) of the scene. Discovered the biggest Republican sign had been swapped out while we were away – the one with the hammer and sickle wasn’t there when we passed by earlier:
If you’re wondering about the Beren sign – he’s the Republican challenging Seattle’s incumbent Congressman Jim McDermott. More Election Eve coverage to come!
That sign in a Gatewood apartment window says it all. Still need info – where to go, what to do, who’s on the ballot? County Elections’ online HQ here; WSB Elections page here. If you take pix or video of voting/election-related happenings tomorrow, or have something else to say, please send it – all day and all night, we will be chronicling Election Day ’08 in West Seattle, with words and pictures (and results after 8 pm), as it happens.
ART TO RAISE $ FOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN: When the West Seattle Farmers’ Market opens at 10 am tomorrow, Fairmount resident Nancy Driver will be there to sell what you see above – and is expecting it to go fast. She explains in e-mail, “I and a couple of friends from the clay studio I work in very belatedly decided to make some ceramic items to raise money for the Obama/Biden campaign. We have some very cool and very colorful, original artwork, Obama fridge magnets, coasters and hot plates for sale. The prices will be: fridge magnets – two sizes for $5 and $6.50; 3-7/16″ coasters – $10; 6″ hot plates – $15. All of the money will go to the Obama campaign – we should end up with around $400.” Nancy says she’ll be “hanging out behind Key Bank” but as soon as the items – fewer than 50 left – are gone, she’s gone, so if you’re interested, be there at 10.
LOOKING FOR VOTES, ONE DOORBELL, ONE PHONE AT A TIME: You may have gotten a visit or a call already this weekend – both sides are canvassing West Seattle. The 34th District Republicans fanned out from Westwood Village this morning, and it was a big day of work for volunteers from the 34th District Democrats (advertising their sample ballot via WSB), who will be on the streets again tomorrow after a citywide rally on Beacon Hill with state, local, and national Democratic Party leaders.
ELECTION DAY BAZAAR, BAKE SALE: This may be the last major election with in-person voting in King County, which originally had hoped to go all-mail by now. Toward that end, local groups are going to strike while the iron — or the ballot — is hot, with bake sales and bazaars on Election Day. Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) is having its traditional Fall Bazaar, 8 am-7 pm, selling baked goods and crafts, and offering a “hearty soup lunch” 11:30 am-1:30 pm. And outside Alki Community Center, you will find neighboring Alki Elementary School‘s PTA selling baked goods on Election Day.
BALLOT DROPBOX A SMASH HIT: Saw a TV mention tonight that the ballot drop-off box at Delridge Neighborhood Service Center, one of only two in the city, was overflowing for a while earlier today, but has since been emptied. For in-person voters, the county Elections Department is trying to get the word out that you shouldn’t be worried about long lines on Election Day – according to this update, it’s staffing polling places for the possibility of “100 percent turnout” but notes that two-thirds of all county voters cast ballots by mail (p.s. as of 8 pm Saturday, HALF those ballots have been returned, per twitter.com/kcvotes). If you haven’t made up your mind on everything yet, remember we have links to pro/con/neutral info on all major races and ballot measures on the WSB Election page, which also has continuously updated election headlines from citywide news sources and major state political blogs.
Co-publisher Patrick is just back from Gov. Gregoire‘s whirlwind tour of The Junction. (With her in that photo, State Sen. Joe McDermott at left, State Rep. Sharon Nelson in back, and Skip Dreps, local veterans’ advocate and 34th District Democrats member.) After her group Q/A event at West 5, we got a quick one-on-one exclusive as she headed across the Walk-All-Ways intersection and asked her whether there’s REALLY going to be an Alaskan Way Viaduct (Central Waterfront) decision by the end of the year. She said, “Yes,” repeatedly, then offered some elaboration when we asked if there’s any direction in which she’s leaning – read on for for that video clip, and more on this afternoon’s West Seattle campaign stop:Read More
Just got word tonight from West Seattle’s State Sen. Joe McDermott: Governor Gregoire, with less than a week to go in a tough re-election fight, is visiting West Seattle tomorrow; at left is a photo Sen. McDermott took of the governor with former Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks during Gore’s recent visit. After a walking tour of The Junction tomorrow afternoon, she plans to meet with business owners and take questions at West 5; that’s expected to start around 2:15 tomorrow afternoon, and you’re welcome to stop by. (Disclosure: The Gregoire campaign is a WSB political advertiser.) 9:17 PM UPDATE: E-mail just in from the 34th District Democrats (also a WSB political advertiser) says U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee will be accompanying the governor during her West Seattle visit tomorrow.
Perhaps you’re among the thousands who’ve seen their “Bassets for Obama” video — now, meet Buddy, Barkley, and Stevo up close and personal, with one day to go in The Big Vote:Read More
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